Counter-Insurgency in Pakistan: The Role of Legitimacy

The Pakistani security forces have won their fight against the insurgency of the Pakistani Taliban, though terrorism will remain a serious problem for the foreseeable future. Victory was won not chiefly on the basis of new tactics, but of the recovery of legitimacy for the campaign among the population and the armed forces. This occurred when the war came to be seen as one waged not in the interests of the USA, but for the defence of Pakistan. In Balochistan, the nationalist insurgency has been different from and weaker than that of the Taliban—but may prove longer lasting. Military tactics in Balochistan have closely resembled those of the British Raj, and have been based with some success on fomenting tribal divisions and co-opting tribal elites.     

Insurgency and Violent Extremism in Pakistan

Pakistan has an uneven history of dealing with insurgencies and extremism. This article identifies the various campaigns and policies employed to defeat militants and deal with violent extremism. It describes the major anti-state groups and how Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders, relying on the related strategies of selectivity, gradualism and containment, have allowed militancy and terrorism to thrive. This article finds that while the elites and the public may have belatedly come to appreciate the existential internal threats these groups pose to the country, there are strong reasons to doubt the state’s full commitment to its promises to take meaningful action.     

Indications and warning in Belgium: Brussels is not Delphi

The terrorist attacks in France and Belgium of 2015–2016 that occurred while these countries were in a heightened state of alert raise questions about indications and warning methodology as well as effectiveness of the blanket-protection deployment of security services assisted even by the military. Response and perhaps even more anticipation may require strategic rethinking in light of the predatory attacks that target the most vulnerable spots of the public space. This study looks at threat analysis in Belgium as conducted through her intelligence fusion centre Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA)?????? since its inception in 2006. With a special focus on what is known, at the time of writing, about the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, this study hopes to put into context how the system (mal)functions and will also consider the preventive measures that respond to the threat, and the international aspects which have implications far beyond Belgian borders. Therefore, a case is made for not just a Belgian homeland security framework, but one that fits into an EU-wide security concept.     

无人机规避或跟踪空中目标的自适应运动导引方法

无人机规避或跟踪空中目标可以看作是一个非线性运动导引控制问题。针对这类任务中无人机和目标存在高机动性、高时敏性等特点,提出了一种基于Lyapunov稳定性理论的无人机规避或跟踪目标运动导引方法。构建了基于精细时间运动导引方法的无人机规避或跟踪空中目标问题求解框架,并将无人机碰撞规避和机动目标跟踪问题分别转化为到达虚拟目标点和与虚拟目标点交会的问题。针对碰撞规避问题,将其转化为实现平行导引的控制问题,基于Lyapunov稳定性理论设计了无人机碰撞规避导引律。针对机动目标跟踪问题,在碰撞规避基础上,根据目标点交会的要求设计了相应的目标跟踪导引律。在Gazebo平台上开展了仿真验证实验,实验结果表明:所提方法能够有效避免大过载情况的出现,并具有较强的时变和参数适应性。     

凹障碍超宽带SAR图像特征分析

野外环境下的凹障碍感知一直是地面无人作战平台环境感知面临的难题,长期以来常规传感器,例如立体视觉、红外相机和激光雷达,都没有取得好的效果。超宽带合成孔径雷达作为一种全天时、全天候的高分辨率雷达,在目标感知方面得到了广泛的运用。基于超宽带合成孔径雷达感知凹障碍是一种有效的感知手段,阐述了凹障碍的雷达成像几何,利用MATLAB模拟仿真合成孔径雷达数据获得了凹障碍图像,分析得出了凹障碍在雷达图像表现出由阴影区和光亮区紧密相连的特征,并通过实测数据成像获得的凹障碍图像结果,对凹障碍雷达图像特征进行了进一步的验证。     

伞翼无人机线性自抗扰高度控制

针对伞翼无人机参数不确定性和复杂环境干扰敏感的问题,提出一种伞翼无人机线性自抗扰(Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control,LADRC)高度控制方法。建立伞翼无人机8自由度飞行动力学模型,并引入风场和降雨模型以更加准确地模拟真实飞行环境。基于LADRC确定总体控制架构,设计线性扩张状态观测器对所有扰动进行估计,并引入误差反馈率在控制中实时补偿。使用该控制方法在多种扰动工况下进行伞翼无人机高度控制仿真实验。仿真结果表明,基于LADRC的高度控制方法能够有效克服内扰和外扰的影响,实现高精度高度控制;与传统PID控制效果相比,LADRC控制器具有更好的抗扰能力和鲁棒性。     

非椭圆扩展目标联合跟踪与分类算法

充分利用目标尺寸和形状信息,提出了一种基于星凸随机超曲面模型(random hypersurface model, RHM)的非椭圆扩展目标联合跟踪与分类(joint tracking and classification, JTC)算法。将目标空间扩展状态建模为星凸形状,通过目标类别相关先验信息的矢量化建模,建立起其与目标瞬时扩展状态的关系,并在统一的贝叶斯滤波框架下,实现跟踪与分类的一体化处理;进一步对目标运动学状态和扩展状态单独进行建模,并通过构建扩展状态的似然函数,利用粒子滤波实现目标类别概率算式的递推处理。仿真结果表明:与基于椭圆形状的扩展目标JTC算法相比,所提算法能对尺寸相近、形状不同的目标进行准确分类,同时可改善目标状态的估计效果;与基于星凸RHM的扩展目标跟踪算法相比,所提算法能大幅提高目标状态的估计性能。     

分段履带式水陆两栖车减阻增速试验及数值仿真

为了研究分段履带式水陆两栖车的水动力性能,实现减阻增速,将尾翼板安装到水陆两栖车的方艉部,并开展了水池试验和仿真研究,两者的研究结果具有较好的一致性。通过仿真研究了车体的纵向重心位置、尾翼板的长度和角度对水陆两栖车阻力性能的影响,并分析了阻力成分的变化趋势。研究结果表明:车体纵向重心位置在540～560 mm 时,车体所受水阻力最小;在速度为3～5 m/s时,长度为156 mm,与水平面夹角为10°的尾翼板减阻效果最明显,相比于原裸车体的阻力,减阻率达到34.3%;加装尾翼板可以增加车体的尾部中空区长度,相当于增加了水线长,增大了长宽比。该研究表明:适当调节重心位置和优化尾翼板参数,可以有效实现水陆两栖车的减阻增速。     

Research on a MEMS pyrotechnic with a double-layer barrier safety and arming device

As an essential component of ammunition, pyrotechnics can control ignition with high reliability. However, due to limits of fabrication technology, traditional pyrotechnics are bulky. To achieve both functionality and miniaturization, MEMS pyrotechnics integrate initiator, safety-and-arming (S&A) device and lead charge and keep all components within a small size. MEMS S&A devices, as the core component to ensure system safety, are difficult to achieve active and rapid response to control signals with high safety and reliability. In order to overcome the difficulty, we propose the design and characterization of a MEMS pyrotechnic with a double-layer barrier S&A device. The MEMS pyrotechnic is a high-integrated device with an overall size of 13.4 × 8.5 × 5.2 mm³. The initiator is a NiCr bridge foil covered with an Al/CuO energetic film, which can generate flame when ignited by an excitation voltage. To match the flame energy, lead styphnate is chosen in this study as the lead charge. The S&A device contains four semi-circular barriers, which are directly driven by V-shape electro-thermal actuators to gain active control of the pyrotechnics' ignition condition with rapid response. To improve the system's reliability, the four barriers are axisymmetrically placed in two layers, two barriers for each layer, to constitute a double-layer structure with a thickness of 100 μm. The ignition test results show that the S&A device can prevent the initiator from detonating the lead charge in safety condition. In arming condition, the lead charge will be detonated.     

Shock initiation performance of NTO-based polymer bonded explosive

3-nitro-1,2,4-tri-azol-5-one (NTO) is a high energy insensitive explosive. To study the shock initiation process of NTO-based polymer bonded explosive JEOL-1 (32%octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX), 32% NTO, 28% Al and 8% binder system), the cylinder test, the gap experiments and numerical simulation were carried out. Firstly, we got the detonation velocity (7746 m/s) and the parameters of Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state (EOS) for detonation product by cylinder test and numerical simulation. Secondly, the Hugoniot curve of unreacted explosive for JEOL-1 was obtained calculating the data of pressure and time at different Lagrangian positions. Then the JWL EOS of unreacted explosive was obtained by utilizing the Hugoniot curve as the reference curve. Finally, we got the pressure growth history of JEOL-1 under shock wave stimulation and the parameters of the ignition and growth reaction rate equation were obtained by the pressure-time curves measured by the shock-initiation gap experiment and numerical simulation. The determined trinomial ignition and growth model (IG model) parameters can be applied to subsequently simulation analysis and design of insensitive ammunition with NTO-based polymer bonded explosive.